Thanks to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, every person can play the part of a scholar and edit articles that paint an unflattering light.
A new Web site, wikiscanner.virgil.gr, known as WikiScanner enables Wikipedia users to search edits made anonymously and identify the organization where the posts originated.
Pages about President Michael Crow's 2004 clash with The State Press, as well as a paragraph about Crow's tenure as president, were changed by a computer within ASU's system. This could be any computer on campus.
Denise Quiroz, spokesman for Crow's office, said the University did not sanction the changes.
Posts made officially by ASU are to correct inaccuracies and are not anonymous, Quiroz said. The University is one of Wikipedia's registered users.
"We do check Wikipedia," Quiroz said, "but we abide by Wikipedia's best practice rules."
According to Wikipedia, these rules include avoiding bias, keeping its articles informational, and respecting other users.
WikiScanner uses IP addresses, which are assigned to computers when they log on to the Internet, to identify anonymous editors. While an IP address doesn't identify the specific computer, organizations — like ASU — are assigned ranges of these addresses.
Among the posts that concern students such as Desiré Bearup, a pre-veterinary freshman, are changes to the account of the 2004 incident that became known as "Nipplegate."
The incident involved a photo printed in The State Press of a pierced female nipple. Questions were raised by the administration in response about whether or not the University should have more authority over what the newspaper prints.
A description of an article on the incident written by the New Times is changed from "an overall account" to "an admittedly biased account," and another such article is changed so that it is described as "one-sided."
As recently as this month, a paragraph was deleted that called Crow's presidency controversial and discussed the reasons behind the new Latter-Day Saints Institute of Religion building on campus.
"If the administration is doing some of these edits, that's like they're blinding us to the truth," Bearup said.
Wilma Mathews, director of constituent relations for the University's office of public affairs, who instructs a public relations writing course on campus said there is no way of stopping any computer user from making such edits independently.
"There are hundreds of computers on this campus, and you don't know who is on them," she said. "I'm always a little bit suspicious of Wikipedia for this very reason."
According to WikiScanner, more than 2,000 edits were made to Wikipedia pages by ASU computers in the past three years.
Reach the reporter at: Emma.breysse@asu.edu.
